Topshop drops photo of ‘too skinny’ model

Yahoo Lifestyle12 July 2011

Topshop has taken down an image of a super-skinny model from its website after pressure from eating disorder groups.

A photo of Australian-born model Codie Young wearing a blue blouse appeared on the store’s website last week as part of its ‘Prim and Proper’ campaign, but has now been replaced by a more healthy-looking photo of the model.

Helen Davies, from anorexia charity Beat, was one of the campaigners who said the image could encourage the eating disorder in young girls.

She told The Daily Mail. “For girls to see pictures of models who are this thin suggests that it’s OK to be like that but it’s clearly not. “Images like this are affecting young girls more than ever before. Topshop needs to take some responsibility and use healthy models.”

Topshop has defended Young, saying she is “a healthy young woman”, but admitted that the original photo “accentuate[ed] Codie's proportions, making her head look bigger and neck longer in proportion to her body”.

She still appears elsewhere in their catalogue.

Another campaigner Karen Easthall, who runs a support group in Norfolk, suggested the model “clearly looks like a size zero” and could influence youngsters to try and look the same way. “The girl looks ill. I dread to think how she looks under her clothes.”

Topshop said Young was a British size eight, but added that some of the clothes she wears in the catalogue are size ten, so “they may look a little looser than normal”.

Back in 2009 Kate Moss, who has modeled and designed collections for Topshop, sparked outrage when she said one of her mottos was: ''Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels''.